You may be surprised to learn that for Americans, time spent on social media tops time spent on email and Google. Additionally, 76% of Facebook users log on every day!
93% of marketers use social media to promote their businesses, according to Fast Company. Social media has grown significantly over time. You are probably losing out on a sizable portion of your target market if you are not promoting it.
Why Should You Market on Social Media?
Being a part of the Mark Zuckerberg age, it is simple to understand why people are so hooked on social media. For marketers, the opportunity to expand their brand via these networks is limitless. Every organization, no matter how big or little, how new or experienced, needs to be present on these key social media platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google+ are just a few. For any company that wishes to succeed, failing to tweet is now excused!
Additionally, social adverts are now being presented to us more frequently. I finish my daily routine of drinking coffee and perusing my Instagram account when I discover sponsored adverts interspersed with edited photos of scenery and food. One cannot access their Facebook news feed.
However, it is crucial to establish your social channels with stellar content, excellent customer service, and eye-catching imagery before launching paid social advertising campaigns. Once you have successfully optimized your social media channels, you will not only attract ardent brand advocates but also start collecting leads and turning visitors into paying clients.
Here are five essential social media ideas to help you take charge of your social channels and give them the much-needed facelift this year if you’ve let yours accumulate cobwebs and cockroaches over the past year.
Technique #1: Make a strategy and follow it.
You’ll want to avoid making the social media marketing error of not having an implementation approach. Your content will probably be lost if you don’t have a plan in place. Set a daily maximum for the number of tweets you must post. This number can be altered as necessary, but having a target to aim for—even if it’s just four tweets each day—gives you at the very least a benchmark and a goal.
TIP: To determine the optimal amount of material to publish per day on each channel, look into how frequently your competitors post and do some market research. You should be active, but not excessively so.
Create a read-through editorial calendar to house all of the content. A nice place to start is Google Excel Docs. Establish a weekly, shareable publishing calendar, segment it by social media platform, and include columns for staff members on your content team to comment on before posting. Plan ahead, but keep adding things as you go. For instance, if a fantastic PR hit is released, you should cover it promptly even if it wasn’t on your initial publishing plan.
Consider using social media management tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, and TweetDeck to manage your social feeds, schedule posts in advance, and access performance analytics.
Technique #2: Consider each channel as a separate entity.
It is necessary to address each social media platform independently. There may be content that is appropriate for all channels. For instance, if your company has recently been acquired by a large corporation, this is likely news you want to communicate everywhere. However, your strategy should be tailored to the channel’s target audience.
For instance, compared to Instagram, which is likely to have an audience looking for interesting visual content, LinkedIn tends to have a more business-focused audience searching for in-depth, educational content. Pay attention to the demographics of your followers on each platform so you can post social media copy and material that speaks to them.
Technique #3: Provide exceptional client service.
Trust is lost if a website visitor tweets at your handle or makes a post on your Facebook page but never hears back. The unsatisfied potential lead is now going to your competitors for answers to their questions as a result of your lack of communication. On the other side, a visitor is flattered and intrigued by your brand when you respond thoughtfully and promptly. Taking the time to react to a personal question humanizes you and increases your authority.
My buddy Jane, who recently lived in New York City, left a remark on an Instagram photo shared by her preferred city dive bar. The social media manager gave her a free T-shirt as soon as she expressed gratitude for the feedback. The bartender had an epiphany a few weeks later when Alexa drove six hours from Boston to pick up her free blouse (and visit some pals). Social media is effective! ” Her enormous network of contacts, many of whom still live in New York, are now encouraged to check out the bar, thus serving as a free publicist for the modest, local bar. This is only one tiny example, but if you haven’t heard the Morton’s Steakhouse story about giving a joking tweeter a free steak at the airport, I strongly urge you to utilize it as a model for stellar social media customer care. This story generated an absurd amount of free press.
It’s important to respond to unfavorable comments as well, ideally with kindness and respect. But consider using your social media platforms as a platform to show off how well you treat your clients.
Technique #4: Accept setbacks
Mistakes are inevitable since we are human. When it comes to the quick-paced world of social media, this is especially true. Instead of simply ignoring these difficulties, welcome them. I’m not advocating announcing a comma omission in a tweet, but I am advocating that you leave the message intact. It has already been posted, and if you keep doing it, your followers will become aware of it. You’ll want to proactively respond in an apologetic, actionable manner to larger errors, like a product fault or multiple overcharges to consumer credit cards, and send out content from your social accounts apologizing and discussing how the error is being handled so customers are aware.
What transpires, though, if a sizable, very embarrassing error is made? In my opinion, Pamela Vaughan, a HubSpot employee, handled her pregnancy mistake admirably. Pamela unintentionally shared a photo of her expanding baby bump on the almost 350,000-followed official Twitter account for HubSpot. Pamela chose to embrace her gaffe and write this amazing blog post rather than retreating into a hole of shame. The article has received a lot of positive feedback, with many shares and comments expressing admiration for HubSpot’s human element, which is a significant factor in why they are one of the most well-liked marketing firms out there.